Photoresist layers are commonly used in the formation of particular structures on a wafer. In a typical manufacturing process using photoresist, there may be a number of steps involving deposition of layers, ion milling, etching, and numerous other processes. In particular, the use of photoresist layers to manufacture read and/or write heads for hard disk drives may involve the formation of tiny, three-dimensional structures using photoresist. In the complicated operations used to form such structures, photoresist layers can become embedded underneath other layers deposited during formation of these structures. The deposition process may thus leave the photoresist layer covered by an overlayer that is more or less impenetrable by the liftoff solution. Accordingly, the conventional techniques for lifting off photoresist using a liftoff solution might not be successful. Sometimes other process techniques can be used to allow the liftoff solution to penetrate an upper layer, including, for example, undercutting photoresist structures. But those techniques may introduce additional complexity into the manufacturing process, which can be undesirable for a number of reasons, including difficulties in controlling the additional process steps, requirement of additional time and expense, and other associated complications.